State Senate leader DeLeón picks Clinton — less sure on marijuana

Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León says he'll be out campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

The question to California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin DeLeón, one of the most powerful Democrats in the state, was simple: Hillary or Bernie?

Before answering, DeLeon smiled, turned to an aide and asked for the green light to announce his pick. “What’s today, Wednesday?” Green light.

“I’m with Hillary Rodham Clinton. All the way,” the Los Angeles Democrat said of his choice between Clinton and Democratic primary opponent Bernie Sanders. “I think she’s the best candidate. I think she has experience. She’s tough. She’s battle- tested and she’s prepared, and I have every confidence she can lead this country.”

Talking Wednesday — yes, it is Wednesday — after addressing a meeting of California Newspaper Publishers Association in Sacramento, DeLeón wasn’t so enthusiastic about legalizing marijuana. The California Medical Association just endorsed the Sean Parker-backed legalization ballot measure aimed at the November ballot.

“I respect the doctors very much,” DeLeon said. “The imprimatur of the California Medical Association is very important, carries a lot of cachet.

“That being said, I don’t know whether the issue was political or scientific or a combination thereof,” he said, noting that he hadn’t talked with the doctors group yet about their decision making.

“I’m still ambivalent about the issue of the legalization of marijuana,” DeLeon said. “That’s not to say in the future I may change my mind. but i still want to see evidence why this makes sense.”

DeLeon said his reasons were personal, as he saw many people growing up fighting addiction. That’s not to say marijuana is a gateway drug, he said, but he saw many lives of people he knew growing up destroyed by drugs.

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer, covering national and state politics. He has worked at The Chronicle since 2000 and in Bay Area journalism since 1992, when he left the Milwaukee Journal. He is the host of “It’s All Political,” The Chronicle’s political podcast. Catch it here: bit.ly/2LSAUjA

He has won numerous awards and covered everything from fashion to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings to two Olympic Games to his own vasectomy — which he discussed on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” after being told he couldn’t say the word “balls” on the air. He regularly appears on Bay Area radio and TV talking politics and is available to entertain at bar mitzvahs and First Communions. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a proud native of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!